Although numerous ways are employed to connect tubing together, or to connect tubing to apparatus fittings and the like is to provide the tubing with an elastomeric end-piece. Most typically the end-piece is adhesively affixed to one of the free ends of the tubing.
Tubing fabricated from a stiff yet pliable material such as polyvinylchloride plastic is used extensively in the health care industry. Such tubing is used to convey oxygen from portable oxygen source to ambulatory patients who suffer from respiratory illnesses or to convey intravenous solutions from containers and into patients for various medical reasons. Prior art tubing end-pieces and connectors are adequate to connect together two pieces of tubing in a fluid tight connection. Unfortunately, with ambulatory patients, these tubing end-pieces can become caught with furniture, under doors or in other places when a patient moves from one place to another. When this occurs, the ambulatory patient might cause one of the free ends of the tubing to disengage from any device to which the tubing may previously be connected to or catch and cause patient discomfort.
Typically, the prior art tubing end-pieces were fabricated from a stiff yet resilient material and included a body member having an elongated cylindrically-shaped body portion and a cylindrically-shaped head portion with a diameter larger than the body portion. These cylindrically-shaped portions of the tubing end-piece contributed to the problem of catching on furniture, under doors or in other items. A cylindrically-shaped bore extends longitudinally through both the body portion and the head portion. The head portion is used to assist in urging the tubing connector into engagement with a fitting. Although it is helpful to twist the prior art tubing end-piece while urging it into engagement with the fitting, gripping the tubing connector to obtain sufficient twisting force may cause the body portion to collapse. Thus, twisting a prior art tubing end-piece may have to be done carefully when attempting to engage a fitting because the fitting is cylindrical while the collapsed body portion may deform the cylindrically-shaped bore into an oval shape.
A need, therefore, exists to provide a tubing end-piece that is configured in a manner to avoid becoming caught with furniture, under doors or with other items while being moved by the patient. There is another need to provide an improved tubing end-piece so that is can be twisted while being connected to a fitting. There is likewise a need for a rigid tubing connector to releasably connect two tubing end-pieces together in the fluid tight relationship.